Inland Ports in the Republic of Croatia: Approvals for Port Activities instead of Concessions

According to the 1998 Act on Inland Ports, the right to performall port activities within inland ports of the Republic ofCroatia is given on the basis of concession, obtained throughbidding. It has been noticed in practice that modem businessprocesses and traffic flows are more dynamic than before whenclassic concession relations were created. Also, types andamounts of cargo are changing every couple of years, which isfollowed by quick adjustments, instead of working according torigid and long-term defined decisions and concession contracts.Furthermore, the practice has shown for some activitiesthat the number of port providers (such as ship suppliers,port-agency and freight forwarders) should not be limited. Thismeans that the system of a limited number of port providers isimportant only for the activities that require location within aport, as the port area is physically limited. Therefore, the newAct on Navigation and Inland Ports from 2007, whose framehas been completed by sub-law acts during 2008, has replacedthe complex concession system for performing activities in inlandports by a more liberal approval system. On the basis ofthese, higher dynamics of work of port providers is enabled aswell as easier adjustment to market conditions. Furthermore,the main limitation factor that determines the number of portusers becomes the available physical space within a port, whichprovides undisturbed competition, along with larger offer ofport services that do not require that space. It is also importantto point out that the new Act specifically includes distributionand cargo logistics, also processing and improvement of goodsas well as industrial activities including production that enablecomplete economic utilization of port capacities into the existingport activities, thus significantly changing the role of the portitself as a logistic centre.